Victor Cruz piles up a UMass record 262 receiving yards in a 52-38 loss to James Madison Saturday

HARRISONBURG, Va. - University of Massachusetts junior wide receiver Victor Cruz broke a school record in receiving yards with 262.

However, James Madison senior quarterback Rodney Landers provided the Dukes an array of fleet footwork, prevailing 52-38 in the Colonial Athletic Association opener for both teams.

UMass' glimmer of a chance to come back almost happened as a result of a hit by UMass linebacker George Byrd on JMU's tailback Griff Yancey inside the Minutemen's 30-yard line with under three minutes remaining.

James Madison wide receiver Rockeed McCarter was the first to dive on the ball, which rolled four yards to the 26-yard line, giving the Dukes a makable third-and-two, in which they converted on the next play.

JMU (2-1, 1-0) dominated offensively, jolting UMass (2-1, 0-1) with precise plays from its spread option attack in a game that demonstrated the Dukes' ground game against a Minuteman aerial attack that started out slow, but finished with a furius rally that wasn't enough.

"In essence, they had three tailbacks in the backfield with Landers at quarterback," said UMass head coach Don Brown, especially alluding to Landers' school-record 206 rushing yards by a quarterback.

The Minutemen trailed 31-10 at haltime with only 60 yards passing.

"If we scored more in the first half, it might have been different," Umass Liam Coen said. "We fought back pretty hard. We didn't quit. When you get down it's hard to come back."

Coen would come back strong in the second half and finished with 26 of 39 passing for 339 yards and three touchdowns.

Trailing 45-24 with 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Minutemen rallied, scoring touchdowns on back-to-back possesions, narrowing the margin to seven points with six minutes remaining.

Cruz caught the second of his two touchdowns from Coen on a 37-yard streak down the left sideline to cut James Madison's lead to 14 points with 9:32 to go in the fourth quarter.

Then, three-and-a-half minutes later, tailback Tony Nelson dove in on a 2-yard touchdown run to bring the Minutemen within seven.

The last-ditch offensive effort wasn't enough as James Madison would then close any UMass hopes by going on an 8-play, 71-yard touchdown drive capped by Griff Yancey's 1-yard score with 1:56 remaining.

Even in defeat, Cruz more than displayed visions of what Brown had in mind from Patterson, N.J. native. Last year, Cruz wasn't a factor for the Minutemen, catching only one pass for 26 yards.

Against JMU, Cruz nabbed 13 receptions, and his 262 yards receiving broke the mark of 210 yards set by Adrian Zullo against Richmond in 1999.

Brown lamented about the great turnaround for Cruz, who at one point was borderline in returning to the team.

"He's now turned potential into performance," Brown said.

Coen was also pleased with Cruz becoming an integral factor on offense.

"He stepped up big-time," Coen said. "We were really waiting for him to break out, and he did on the catch-and-runs."

Defensively, UMass must improve after allowing 42 points in a win last week against Holy Cross and now 52 to JMU.

Landers broke his own school record for rushing yards by a quarterback with his 206 on 26 carries.

"It was a very difficult start," said Brown. "Obviously Landers is a very good player. I was worried about the start of the game, and we were pretty unsettled in the first half."

The Minutemen hadn't allowd more than 42 points in back-to-back games since the 2002 season, when the Minutemen allowed 42 points in a loss to Northeastern, following that up with 56 points allowed to North Carolina State.

James Madison took an early 14-0 lead at the end of the first-quarter after Jamal Sullivan's 7-yard touchdown run and Landers' QB draw and score from 17 yards out.

The Minutemen would score on an Armando Cucko's 39-yard field goal on their first possesion of the second quarter to cut the Dukes' lead to 14-3, but JMU went back to its spread attack and scored on Landers' 3-yard run to end a 9-play, 51-yard drive that consumed 5:06 of the clock. The Dukes converted on a fourth-and-nine pass, the first completion and attempt for Landers, who hit wide receiver Boscoe Williams on an 11-yard slant to get to the UMass 22.

UMass got its offense going on a third-and-one from the JMU's 44-yard-line when Nelson squirted through the JMU defensive front on a dive play for a 42-yard run all the way to the Madison 2-yard line. Two plays later on second-and-goal, Nelson scored.

With 0:38 left in the first half, Landers found receiver Kerby Long open on a deep post sprinting into the end zone for a 47-yard touchdown strike to give the Dukes a 28-10 lead.

JMU would tack on another field goal from 47 yards out following an interception by Evan McCullough for a 31-10 halftime lead. 